The best mountain hikes around Mesocco

What a marvel. A little Paradise.

beautiful village where time seems to have stopped years ago

Since, as is often the case, the pass signs are completely covered with stickers, taking photos in front of them is no longer fun. Alternatively, you can use the boundary stone to take a "proof photo." On the other side of the road, there's another, smaller stone with the elevation: 2113 m.

Capanna Adula UTOE, located at 2393 m in Val Carassina (Ticino), has been managed since 2018 by Lisa and Ciril with the support of UTOE Bellinzona. It offers a warm welcome, home cooking with local products and a strong commitment to sustainability. It is the ideal starting point for climbing Adula (3402 m), the highest peak in Ticino, and for trekking and mountaineering routes. It has dormitories, services and a large panoramic terrace. Open from 29 May to 4 October 2025, it requires advance booking for overnight stays and meals.

At a similar altitude lies the Guraletschsee to the south and the Selvasee to the north. The three lakes are connected by hiking trails and can be reached from Zervreila or directly from Vals.

Montespluga SO The mountain village of Montespluga is located at an altitude of 1908 m above sea level at the beginning of the Val San Giacomo (also called Valle Spluga), about three kilometers from the summit of the Splügen Pass. The place originated in a hollow rich in water and pastures, where the Valle Spluga meets the Val Loga, near the border peaks of the area such as Pizzo Tambo. In 1927, the construction of the dam about 2 kilometers south of Montespluga began, damming the Torrente Liro to form the Lago di Montespluga below the village. The village with its few houses, restaurants, hotels, and shops on the pass road and the old customs building "La Casa" has hardly changed. Until 1841, it housed the only hospice on the Splügen Pass and the only place of worship, the chapel of San Francesco d’Assisi. The latter was consecrated in 1832, the year after the completion of the new road to the Splügen Pass in 1822. As early as 1767, the apostolic nuncio in Switzerland and later Cardinal Luigi Valenti Gonzaga had granted permission to set up a small chapel in the hospice. Since the opening of the San Bernardino Tunnel, the pass has no longer been kept open in winter. The village, which consists of three streets (Via Dogana, Via Ferrè, and Via Val Loga), can be cut off from both Italy and Switzerland. Montespluga is the starting point for numerous hiking, mountaineering, and ski touring destinations in the surrounding mountains and a stage destination on the cross-border long-distance hiking trail Via Spluga. Text / Source: wikipedia.org https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montespluga

Splügen Pass / Passo dello Spluga The Splügen Pass has been proven to have been used since prehistoric times. There are also references to this in Roman times, e.g. the Itinerarium Antonini, a Roman road map from around 300 AD. The very close connections between the bishoprics of Chur and Como ran over the Splügen Pass. As early as 1396, there was evidence of significant customs revenues at Splügen. The expansion of the Viamala Gorge promoted its boom. The movement of goods was carried almost exclusively by packhorses, which meant frequent reloading. Transit traffic formed an important part of the flourishing economy. As late as 1798, the Austrian Field Marshal von Bellegarde wrote: "The largest train of goods from Milan to Germany goes over this pass, but mostly on horses and mules." Between 1818 and 1823, the first road that was passable for freight wagons and stagecoaches was built at the same time as the San Bernardino, and to a large extent it still follows the same route as it was then. After that, freight volumes and international passenger traffic over the Splügen increased several times over and reached their peak in the mid-1850s. The opening of the Alpine railways (1867 Brenner, 1872 Mont Cenis) had already reduced transit traffic over the Splügen. The opening of the Gotthard Railway in 1882 brought Graubünden transit traffic to a virtual standstill. A large wave of emigration was a direct result. The decades-long efforts to build a Splügen railway ultimately failed. The construction of the national road with a car tunnel at the San Bernardino opened up new perspectives. The Splügen Pass has been closed in winter since World War II. Text / Source: Interest Group for Alpine Passes IAP, PO Box 11, 6491 Realp https://www.alpen-paesse.ch/de/alpenpaesse/spluegenpass/

Splügen Pass (Alpine crossing (2113 m) Alpine crossing (2113 m) on the border between the Rheinwald in the Hinterrhein valley and the Italian Val San Giacomo (St. Jakobstal). The village of Splügen at the northern starting point, mentioned around 840 as cella in speluca, gave the pass its name. Italian Passo dello Spluga, Romanesque Pass dal Spleia. In the Middle Ages, the Splügen Pass was also known as Colmen d'Orso and Urschler. At the same time as the San Bernardino, the first road that was open to freight wagons and carriages was built between 1818 and 1823. After the Simplon and before the Gotthard, the Lower Road was thus the second Swiss "artificial road" across the Alps. For the route from Chur over the San Bernardino to Bellinzona, the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont was responsible for a large part of the costs, in addition to the canton of Graubünden. The The Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom saw this as a threat to the volume of traffic over the Splügen Pass and in return had a road built at its own expense across the national border to the village of Splügen. This road essentially corresponded to the route still used at the beginning of the 21st century. On the north side, according to the plans of engineer Carlo Donegani, the road no longer led through the avalanche slope of the Altberg. On the south side, an almost completely new route was chosen below Monte Spluga to Campodolcino, bypassing the Cardinell Gorge. Many galleries and refuge houses were built at regular intervals, especially on the south side. After the devastating flood damage of 1834, the road was rebuilt in some places. In 1841, the first mountain house with the customs station was built on the north side (2022 m). Text / Source: Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HLS) https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/008823/2013-01-10/